The death toll from the February 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria has exceeded 45,000, according to a latest report published on the Portal website. Budget set to increase further as many are still missing under the rubble of 264,000 destroyed buildings.
Meanwhile, three people were found alive under the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay today. in southern Turkey, thirteen days after the earthquake. A child is among the three survivors who were pulled from the rubble 296 hours after the quake, Turkish private broadcaster NTV reported.
The casualties in Turkey are 39,672, 5,800 in Syria, from where there has been no news for days. Three people were pulled alive from the rubble yesterday and mosques around the world prayed for the earthquake dead, many of whom were unable to receive funeral rites given the scale of the disaster.
Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu is also among the victims, who has played for the Turkish first division club Hatayspor since September. He was found dead under the rubble of the building where he lived in Antioch in southern Turkey. This was announced by his agent quoted by the Turkish private agency DHA. “Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. His personal belongings are still being removed. His phone was also found,” his agent Murat Uzunmehmet said.
According to Turkish media, the 31-year-old former Chelsea and Newcastle player in England lay under the rubble of Rönesan’s residence, a 12-storey tower that collapsed in the earthquake. The Embassy of Ghana in Turkey and the Ghana Football Association initially claimed the striker was found alive, but this information was later found to be false.
The builder of the luxury residence, now a ruin where 800 people are said to be buried, was arrested last week while attempting to leave Turkey.
Yesterday a 45-year-old man, Hakan Yasinoglu, was pulled out alive after being buried for 278 hours under the rubble of a building that collapsed due to the earthquake in Hatay, one of the worst-hit cities in south-eastern Turkey Anadolu.
ANSA agency
The death toll in Turkey rises to 36,186. Police arrested a man in Samandag after another kidnapping attempt was foiled in hospital. A 27-year-old woman was pulled alive from the rubble in Kahramanmaras (ANSA) after 258 hours.
Two men, aged 26 and 34, were pulled alive from the rubble of a private hospital in the Turkish city of Hatay after 261 hours. This is reported by the Turkish media. Rescuers were working around the collapsed building when they heard a noise, possibly a voice, and dug in that direction. Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu, one of the two men rescued, took his son to the hospital the day before the quake, Anadolu said.
Buildings in ruins, aerial photos of Idlib after the earthquake